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Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Vatican City, 3 June 2015 (VIS) – The
living conditions that put the family to the test and render it
vulnerable, starting with poverty, will be the themes of Pope
Francis' catechesis starting from today, he announced to the twenty
thousand faithful attending this week's Wednesday general audience in
St. Peter's Square.

The Holy Father spoke about the misery
and degradation that can accompany poverty, in the suburbs of
metropolises and in rural areas alike, a situation that is often
aggravated by war that has a profound impact on civilians. “In
truth, war is the 'mother of all poverty', a great predator of lives,
souls, and of the dearest and most sacred affections”, he said.

However, he added, there are many
families who, although poor, seek to live their daily lives with
dignity, often openly trusting in God's blessing. Nevertheless, this
“must not justify our indifference, but rather increase our shame!
It is almost a miracle that, even in poverty, families continue to
form, and indeed preserve as best they can, the special humanity of
their bonds. It is a fact that irritates those planners of well-being
who consider sentiments, procreation and family bonds as a variable
secondary to the quality of life. Instead, we should kneel before
these families, who are a true school of humanity and who save
society from barbarism”.

“What will become of us if we give in
to the blackmail of violence and money, and go so far as to renounce
the affections of the family? A new form of civil ethics will arise
only when those responsible in public life recognise the social bond,
starting with the fight against the downward spiral of poverty in the
family, that leads us to the abyss”. The Pope also remarked on the
contradiction inherent in today's economy that often appears to
specialise in individual well-being, but practices the widespread
exploitation of family relationships. “The immense labour of the
family is not quoted on balance sheets, naturally!” he exclaimed.
“It is not merely a question of bread. We are talking about work,
education, healthcare. It is important to be clear about this”.

“We must endeavour to stay ever
closer to families afflicted by poverty”, he repeated. “In
effect, social misery affects the family and at times destroys it.
The lack or loss of work, or its precariousness, have serious
repercussions on family life, putting relationships under stress. The
living conditions in the most disadvantaged areas, with problems
regarding housing and transport, as well as the reduction of social,
healthcare and educational services, cause further difficulties.
Added to these material factors there is also the damage caused to
the family by false models, propagated by the mass media, based on
consumerism and the cult of appearances, which affect the poorest
social classes and increase the disintegration of family bonds”.

“The Church is Mother, and must never
forget the tragedy of her children. She too must be poor, to become
fruitful and to respond to so much suffering. A poor Church is a
Church that practices a voluntary simplicity in her own life – in
her institutions, in the lifestyle of her members – to break down
walls of separation, especially those that separate us from the poor.
This takes prayer and action. Let us pray intensively to the Lord to
awaken us, to make our Christian families agents in this revolution
of family closeness that is now so necessary. This is what the Church
has been made of since the very beginning. And let us not forget”,
he warned, “that the judgement of the needy, the small and the poor
prefigures the judgement of God.”

Vatican City, 3 June 2015 (VIS) – In
his greetings following today's catechesis, Pope Francis mentioned
that the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and
that tomorrow, Thursday, is the Feast of Corpus Christi. “We learn
from the Lord, who made Himself into sustenance so as to be more
available to others, serving all those in need, especially the
poorest families”.

He then greeted the young Polish
faithful attending the 19th meeting at Lednica, the town by the lake
where it is believed that Mieszko, the first Polish monarch, was
baptised in the year 966. “I share in your joy, your enthusiasm and
your desire for the Holy Spirit. … Your life, like the life of …
Jesus' disciples, cannot be empty, mundane, without purpose. Open
your heart to the Holy Spirit so that it will be filled with His
gifts. Ask Him to accompany you every day in your work, your studies,
in prayer, in your decisions, in overcoming yourselves and in doing
good. … With Him, you will transform the world. … He will help
you to take up the great dialogue with God, with humanity and with
the world in this stage of history”.

The Holy Father also expressed his
closeness to the Chinese people following the tragic disaster on the
river Yangtze, in which a cruise ship capsized, causing hundreds of
deaths. He gave the assurance of his prayers for the victims, their
families, and all those engaged in rescue operations.

Finally, he dedicated some special
words to Italian workers for Whirlpool, threatened with redundancy.
He expressed his hope that this serious employment crisis may
resolved swiftly and equitably with respect for all and, in
particularly, for families. “The entire country faces a very
difficult situation”, he affirmed. “Strong commitment is called
for to open up paths of hope”.

Vatican City, 3 June 2015 (VIS) –
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin spoke this morning at the
conference “Educating today and tomorrow”, organised by the
Mission of the Holy See permanent observer at UNESCO, with the
Congregation for Catholic Education, to celebrate 70 years since the
founding of this United Nations organ, the 50th anniversary of the
conciliar declaration “Gravissimum educationis”, a key text for
Catholic education, and 25 years since the apostolic constitution “Ex
corde Ecclesiae”, a document of reference for Catholic
universities.

In his discourse the cardinal presented
an overview of the history of the educational service offered by the
Catholic Church since its origins, emphasising that the pedagogy of
the Church is based on biblical anthropology in which the
relationship of love and reciprocity between man and God appears from
Genesis onwards. He also underlined the importance attributed to this
theme by Vatican Council II, in which a full and complete education
is proposed, aimed at laying the foundations for an inclusive and
peaceful society open to dialogue, and went on to mention current
educational challenges and perspectives, such as the extreme
fragmentation of knowledge and the worrying lack of communication
between different disciplines. The Secretary of State affirmed the
need to counteract the concept of the human being as a machine for
production, proposing instead a vision of the person, and reiterated
the need for formation in dialogue and the construction of
fraternity.

“Culture and education have never
been considered by the Catholic Church merely as tools for
evangelisation, but rather as dimensions of humanity with high
intrinsic value. Investment in the education of the younger
generations is a condition for the 'progressive development of
peoples … an object of deep interest and concern to the Church.
This is particularly true in the case of those peoples who are trying
to escape the ravages of hunger, poverty, endemic disease and
ignorance; of those who are seeking a larger share in the benefits of
civilisation and a more active improvement of their human qualities',
as Paul VI affirmed in his encyclical 'Populorum progressio'. The
Church shares in the efforts for greater access to literacy, to
education for all and for continuing formation. These pillars are
made even more solid with regard to the fundamental commitment in
favour of ethnic and religious minorities and for the female gender,
so important for the harmonious growth of society”.

The Catholic Church, an “expert in
humanity”, has placed education at the centre of her mission and
continues to consider it as a priority, especially in a context of
“global emergency for education”, caused both by processes of
change and by a reductionist perspective that tends to limit the
scope of universal education to a purely economic aspect. In fact,
looking closely, the recent financial crisis has been of an entropic
nature: it gave rise to a loss of meaning and consequent social
apathy. By this refusal, there is a tendency to lose one's
orientation towards the common good and to drift away from the
propulsive value of relationality in the name of a minimalist
anthropology of 'homo oeconomicus', which stifles interpersonal
relationships”.

He continued, “We live in times in
which many perceive the signs of an epochal transition. As the
history of humanity shows us, these periods are marked by instability
and disorientation. Faced with the intensification of sentiments of
opposition and hatred, it would appear necessary to start to 'share
beauty' and 'praise creation', acknowledging the contribution that
each person can offer and proposing humble and patient closeness
between individuals, communities and peoples. At the foundation of
this shared responsibility there is, as John Paul II said in his
address to this same prestigious institution, “a fundamental
dimension, capable of rocking the foundations of the systems that
structure the whole of humanity and of freeing human existence,
individual and collective, from the threats that weigh upon it. This
fundamental dimension is man, man in his integrity, man who lives in
both the sphere of material values and the sphere of spiritual
values. Respect for the inalienable rights of the human person is the
root of all this”.

- Rev. Fr. Christian Noel Emmanuel as
bishop of Trincomalee (area 2,727, population 378,182, Catholics
19,606, priests 36, religious 52), Sri Lanka. The bishop-elect was
born in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka in 1960 and was ordained a priest in
1986. He has served as parish priest, diocesan head of catechism and
liturgy, and professor at the diocesan seminary, and is currently
vicar and bursar of the same diocese. He succeeds Bishop Joseph
Kingsley Swampillai, whose resignation upon reaching the age limit
was accepted by the holy father.

Vatican City, 3 June 2015 (VIS) – The
Vatican Information Service bulletin will not be transmitted
tomorrow, Solemnity of Corpus Christi and a holiday in the Vatican.
Service will resume on Friday 5 June.